Resources for Teachers and Students on Rigoberta Menchú

Prepare: Rigoberta Menchú Tum won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. Her biography and the text of her Nobel lecture can be found on the Nobel website.

Read: Rigoberta Menchú Tum wrote an original essay for the Architects of Peace project. In it, she explores peace as a way of life, both for the individual and for society.

Explore: The Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation has been active in the process of repatriating indigenous Guatemalans during the period of civil unrest, and in promoting human rights in Guatemala, especially in terms of women's rights. Unfortunately, the foundation does not maintain a presence on the internet at present. A great deal about the foundation's work, however, can be learned on the website of the American Indian Heritage Foundation.

Write: In her Architects of Peace essay, Rigoberta Menchú Tum constructs an elaborate, poetic definition of peace. Compose a two-to-three page close reading of her essay, focusing on how she works with definitions, and any metaphors she constructs to describe the peacemaking process.

Extend: Rigoberta Menchú Tum participates in an organization called PeaceJam, an educational program built around Nobel Peace Laureates who work specifically with youth. She is one of five Architects of Peace currently involved with this program. Information about their educational activities can be found on the PeaceJam website.

Additional Resource: The Rigoberta Menchú Tum story is not without its controversy. There have been accusations in publications such as the New York Times that her memoirs contain a degree of embellishment of her otherwise heroic personal history. You can read an account of the controversy online.

Biography of Rigoberta Menchú Tum